1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a baby walker and more particularly to improvements in a seat level adjusting mechanism for such baby walker.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Baby walkers have heretofore been used for a baby to learn to walk. In such walker, it is desirable that the level of the seat be adjustable to the growth of a baby. Further, since there are differences in the height of babies, it is desirable that the seat be adjustable to an optimum level for each particular baby.
The seat is held by a predetermined portion of the upper frame of a walker and usually suspended by suitable straps. Considering such a manner of holding the seat, it will be understood that adjustments of the seat level can be made by adjusting the length of the straps which suspend the seat. A certain conventional adjusting means for this purpose consists in folding a portion of the strap upon itself to provide an overlap and adjusting the length of said overlap so as to change the length of the strap. According to said means, the adjusted length is fixed by a clasp which frictionally acts on the strap.
The fixing method utilizing friction described above allows stepless adjustment of the length of the strap, so that it is advantageous in that any length adjusted in the whole range of the strap length can be fixed. However, the length adjusting means, which utilizes friction, tends to slip when subjected to heavy loads, causing the adjusted level of the seat to change with the frequency of use of the walker. Such slippage is also undesirable from the standpoint of safety if said slippage takes place when the baby is sitting on the seat.
On the other hand, the present situation in which the baby walker is actually used is such that even if the level of the seat can be adjusted steplessly, it is adjusted only two or three times as the baby grows. With this taken into consideration, it will be seen that the construction for a stepless adjustment utilizing friction is not an absolute necessity.
Further, where the seat is held by a predetermined portion of the upper frame and suspended by straps, the mechanism for adjusting the seat level by adjusting the length of the straps will be installed on the upper frame of the walker. The space available in said upper frame, however, is often insufficient for installation of said level adjusting mechanism. For example, whereas the front region of the upper frame is usually formed with a table section and has a relatively wide space, the rear region of the upper frame has a limited space in many cases. Thus, a level adjusting mechanism which is efficient in terms of its space requirement is desired.